SAMUEL GOD’S PROPHET AND JUDGE
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
1 SAMUEL 17:3-17
Key Verse
“Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to the Lord, and serve Him alone; and He will save you from the hand of the Philistines”.
1 Samuel 7:3
INTRODUCTION.
You know very well that we all have responsibilities especially to those in our family and in our nation. We love those people and so we will always care for them and do the best we can for them, encouraging them to do the right thing so that the pain they experience and the troubles they have will disappear.
This is the situation in which the young Samuel found himself. His mother Hannah did not have children for a long time and she prayed to God for a child, promising God that if He allowed her to have children she would give that first child back to God to serve God in the temple. God heard her request and she did get pregnant and had a son called Samuel and she did give him back to God for service in the temple. To reward her for her faithfulness to God, God gave her many more children and she was a happy woman.
The young Samuel grew up in the temple or sanctuary with Eli the High Priest who was not a good priest for he did not obey the commandments of God. His two sons were troubled people who did everything they could against the commandments of God and the duties that they had as priests. What young Samuel remained faithful to God and the people grew to respect him, love him, and listen to whatever he told them to do.
The people of Israel were in a bad state spiritually and God allowed their enemies to beat them and to rule over them as punishment for their continual sinning. God even allowed the Philistine enemy to take away the Ark of the covenant from them. So the people of Israel lamented and mourn and when they suffered for 20 years they asked Samuel for help. And Samuel told them that if they turn to God and they obeyed God then God would help them.
Samuel had proved to the nation before that he was a prophet of God and he ruled over the people of the nation, guiding them in the religious and civil affairs. So they turned to Samuel for help and they listened to Samuel’s advice. When they agreed to return to God and follow God’s commandments, rejecting the worship of pagan idols, Samuel offered a burnt offering sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. This had to be done according to the laws that God had given to the people of Israel and recorded in the Book of Exodus, and the Book of Leviticus.
he people agreed to follow God and when the Philistines attacked them God responded and confused the Philistines and they ran away. The people of Israel pursued after them and recovered all the territory that the Philistines had captured.
We learn that when we turn to God God will make sure that there is someone to help us and that person will certainly ask God to help us. God will listen to that leader who will be acting in our situation just as Samuel acted when the nation of Israel was in trouble. We know that God loves us and we can be assured of His help, for God will always provide for those that come to Him for help. Those that belong to the family of God will get special attention from Him. We can rest assured of our security and we will live peaceably under the love of God. We pray therefore that we will have leaders like Samuel who love us and who will do the best for us.